Ogi Zenin had once boasted that he and Naobito Zenin were on the same level.
But that was impossible.
When he said things like that, Ogi Zenin was simply full of hot air.
Ogi Zenin held the title of Special Grade sorcerer — but the word "Special" referred only to a particular classification of his credentials, not to any particular greatness of his ability.
In truth, he was a Grade 1 sorcerer. And among all Grade 1 sorcerers, he was on the weaker end.
But no matter how embarrassingly he might have performed in the original story, he was still, when all was said and done, a Grade 1 sorcerer.
At the very least, he possessed the strength to beat a Grade 2 sorcerer into the ground.
And because of that——
Clang.
A blade of light swept through the air.
At the same moment Maki Zenin drew her sword — no, a fraction of a heartbeat before her — the man had already drawn his own, and swung it backward in a slashing arc.
He was a consummate swordsman who could layer his bladework with techniques like Falling Blossom Emotion. In an instant, Cursed Energy extended the edge of his blade — a flash of light swept past — and the entire roof of the car was cleaved clean off, the top peeling away and leaving the vehicle open to the sky like a convertible.
Whooosh——
Everyone was suddenly exposed to the howling wind.
With the cabin now open overhead, Zen'in Mai's smoke grenade became all but useless — the smoke was scattered instantly.
Clang!
The smoke hadn't even finished dispersing before Maki Zenin and Ogi Zenin were already on their second exchange, blades locked together, sparks flying in all directions.
Ogi Zenin's sword carried tremendous weight behind it.
The two of them stood atop the car and clashed against each other, each grinding through the pressure.
"Hm?" A faint light flickered in Ogi Zenin's eyes.
He could feel it — Maki Zenin's strength was immense.
"But what does it matter?" Ogi Zenin let out a cold snort. "Whatever level your body has reached through all that endless training — a sorcerer can reach the same level with nothing more than a simple Cursed Energy reinforcement. All that suffering of yours, for nothing. A failure is a failure."
Boom——
Cursed Energy erupted. The force behind his blade surged violently. The cursed tool in Maki Zenin's hand was of lower quality than the sword in Ogi Zenin's grip — it let out a metallic shriek, a sound like something on the verge of breaking.
Maki Zenin's eyes flickered. In an instant she tilted the flat of her blade to redirect the force, letting Ogi Zenin's longsword slide off to one side — and at the same moment, she pressed forward one step, riding the momentum and driving her blade straight at Ogi Zenin's throat.
——An opening!
Ogi Zenin had already committed to killing them — there was no question about it; he was going for the kill.
And so Maki Zenin no longer had any reason to hold back on account of who he was.
Hold back and die.
She was going for the kill too.
Her longsword slid along the redirected path and angled straight for Ogi Zenin's throat — aimed at nothing less than taking his life.
Maki Zenin thought she'd caught an exceptionally good opportunity.
But in the very next instant, Ogi Zenin raised his arm and moved to block Maki Zenin's blade.
He's lost his mind, Maki thought.
And indeed — by any reasonable reckoning, even with his body reinforced by Cursed Energy, Ogi Zenin's arm should not have been able to stop that strike.
The blade connected.
But Maki Zenin froze — because all her sword did was slice through the sleeve at his wrist, leaving a thin line of red across the skin… and then it stopped dead, repelled by some invisible force and flung back.
"Heh. Fool." Ogi Zenin's lips curved into a cold smile.
——Falling Blossom Emotion.
It was a defensive jujutsu secret technique. In the instant an opponent's attack lands, the technique's continuously running Cursed Energy automatically fires back, deflecting the strike outright.
"This," said Ogi Zenin, "is the difference between an ordinary person and a sorcerer."
At the same instant Maki Zenin's blade was sent flying, he gripped his sword in both hands and swung it at Maki Zenin's side — going straight for the kill.
One move behind was all it took. She was caught in a death trap.
In that razor-thin moment, Zen'in Mai raised her hand and fired — forcing Ogi Zenin to swing his blade sideways to deflect the shot — and that was the only thing that saved Maki Zenin's life.
"Maki! Jump!"
Maki Zenin didn't hesitate for even a fraction of a second. She spun around, threw one arm around Mahiko, hooked the other around Zen'in Mai, and all three of them leapt off the car together.
The car they had been riding in was the first vehicle in the convoy.
Behind it were several more cars, all packed with guards.
Maki Zenin landed directly on top of the second car, and with a single kick shattered the front windscreen, then reached in, grabbed the guard in the driver's seat by the collar, and hurled him out.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Zen'in Mai's revolver barked in rapid succession, putting down the remaining guards inside the vehicle.
Maki Zenin threw the guard from the passenger seat out as well, then carefully set Mahiko down in it, leaving Zen'in Mai responsible for buckling the seatbelt.
As for Maki Zenin herself — she dropped into the driver's seat, gripped the steering wheel in both hands, and looked up at Zen'in Mai with complete seriousness.
"…But what do I do if I can't drive?"
Zen'in Mai: "...?"
Zen'in Mai: "Then get out of the way!"
The two of them scrambled to swap seats — Zen'in Mai taking the wheel, Maki Zenin climbing up onto the roof.
By now, the surrounding vehicles had already closed in, bearing down on them from every direction.
Directly ahead, Ogi Zenin stood atop the open roofless car, his clothing and hair rippling in the wind.
Thankfully the road out here was utterly deserted. If anyone had witnessed this scene, they would surely have thought they'd stumbled onto a film shoot.
"Do you know — why Naobito Zenin became clan head, and not me?!"
Ogi Zenin's voice rang out, carried away by the night wind.
"Our strength was on par — so why could he become clan head, and I could not?! Do you know why?!"
He gripped the hilt with both hands and raised the blade high above his head.
Cursed Energy surged along the length of the sword, extending the luminous edge upward, further and further, stretching into the sky above — until it had become a towering column of blue light, blazing against the dark of the night.
Maki Zenin's eyes contracted at the sight of that column of Cursed Energy rising into the heavens.
In the passenger seat, Mahiko looked at the light blotting out the night sky — and simply pursed her lips, reached up, and unclipped the seatbelt that had just been fastened around her.
"Damn it!" Zen'in Mai wrenched the steering wheel with a snarl.
The blade came down.
Ogi Zenin had aimed for the dead centre of the car.
But because of that sharp turn of the wheel, he only caught the side of the vehicle — and yet even that was enough to shear off an entire quarter of the car's body, wheel included, in a single blow.
The car lurched onto its side. Metal screamed against the asphalt, throwing showers of sparks, and the whole vehicle spun and careened off the road into a stand of trees at the roadside.
Maki Zenin snatched Mahiko into her arms and threw herself clear, the two of them tumbling together into the roadside forest.
Dust and debris filled the air.
The wreck ploughed through the treeline, toppling a row of young trees in its wake.
Maki Zenin and Mahiko rolled across the ground several times before finally coming to a stop.
Maki Zenin was on her feet in an instant. She checked Mahiko over for injuries first — mercifully, there were none.
Then she snapped her gaze toward Zen'in Mai's direction. "Mai! Are you alright?"
A voice drifted back through the settling smoke and dust.
"I'm fine."
Zen'in Mai clambered out from the overturned wreckage and calmly reloaded her revolver.
Before either of them had drawn a single breath of relief, the surrounding vehicles had already encircled them. A torrent of guards poured out, armed with swords and blades.
The numbers were staggering. Fifteen, easily — perhaps more.
These weren't solely Zenin family guards. Mixed in among them were what appeared to be hired fighters sourced from elsewhere.
These men had been sent here to serve as their executioners from the very beginning. Even though Maki and Mai had caught on to that intent ahead of time — it did nothing to close the gap between them and certain death.
"Mai," Maki Zenin said through gritted teeth, planting herself in front of Mahiko and facing the encircling horde. "Take Mahiko and run."
"And what about you." Zen'in Mai had her gun raised at the crowd, but her eyes were on Maki. Her jaw was tight. "Are you planning to die here?"
Ogi Zenin was a Grade 1 sorcerer — stronger than either of them. And his cursed tool was considerably higher in quality than the one in Maki Zenin's hand.
On top of that, he had all these guards and hired combatants at his back. To be perfectly honest: the odds of the two of them winning in a straight fight against this many opponents were next to zero.
And to make things worse — they had Mahiko with them. They had to protect her.
Maki Zenin felt a deep, gnawing regret right now.
She should never have listened when Mahiko asked to come along.
She didn't mind dying herself. But if this innocent little girl died because of her...
She would want to kill herself out of shame.
"If this is where my road ends...then I'll accept it." Maki Zenin's jaw was iron. "Take Mahiko and go. I already sent out our location — when Yuji and the others see the coordinates, they'll understand we need help. Take Mahiko and go!"
Die then, if she must.
If fate had decided to bury her here, then so be it — let it come!
The heaven that had stripped her body of all Cursed Energy, the destiny that had dropped her into this wretched family — if they truly intended to grind every last scrap of her effort and dignity into dust, then let them take a look at the blade she drew in her final moment!
"Take Mahiko and run!" Maki Zenin screamed, already sprinting toward Ogi Zenin without a backward glance. "You and Mahiko — neither of you can die!"
"You absolute idiot!!!!" Zen'in Mai snarled — and then she gritted her teeth, scooped Mahiko up into her arms, and ran for the trees.
It was a desperate, heartrending farewell.
A tragedy playing out across the line between life and death.
Such an agonising, heroic scene — unfolding right before her eyes.
Which, unavoidably… made Mahiko yawn.
Oh no.
She clapped a hand over her mouth immediately.
It would be bad if Zen'in Mai caught her yawning!
Sorry, sorry — it really wasn't that she felt no tension at all. It was just that, honestly, Ogi Zenin barely registered as a threat to her. He was nothing, by her measure.
Over Zen'in Mai's shoulder, her gaze drifted to the distant figure of Maki Zenin — charging toward her death.
The girl smiled, just slightly.
She had wanted to see whether Maki Zenin and Zen'in Mai could beat Ogi Zenin on their own. It was looking like they could not.
Oh well.
The head coach had finished warming up. Time to take the field.
____
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